| Lawn to Farm: Suburbia’s Silver Lining
I look at the empty countryside around our farm and can't help but wish it were as thick with people as when my grandparents made a living here. Until recently, though, the kindest name the rest of the world had for this wish was "nostalgia." Back then, leaving the farm made sense. The economy was growing on an energy-dense broth of cheap fossil fuels. The energy in those fuels replaced that from the muscles of farm people and their animals. Today one person can grow food for more than a hundred. A century ago, almost 40 percent of the United States population worked on farms. But with industrialization, millions of farm folk, their labor cheapened, headed to the city for better wages. That tide continued until fewer than 2 million farmers — less than 1 percent of the country's population — remain today.
Category: Blogging
Between the Lines Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives Six Apart adds activity streams to its blog platform Posted in: General Web Technology Social networking Blogging In the new age of open social networks, Six Apart is doing its part to create a hub that embraces the world of feeds outside its own servers. The company is shipping Action Streams, a free plug-in for Movable Type 4.1 that lets users aggregate, control, and share their Web activities from 75 applications, such as FaceBook, Twitter and Vox. Six Apart prides itself on giving its users more control over their profile, such as showing or hiding individual actions,, that other services (remember Facebook Beacon). "We are starting a new wave of open technology with a Facebook style news feed," Anil Dash, vice president at Six Apart told me.
Yazd: Welcome to the desert
Once an important station on the Silk Road, with its historic mosques, minarets and ancient clay buildings, Yazd has resisted other Iranian cities' rush for modernity. It may possibly be the most beautiful desert city in the world. The word "Yazd" means "worship" -- apt since Yazd is known in the Islamic Republic as "the City of Muslims." Most of its half a million population follow the Islamic faith devoutly. Yet for a city renowned for its religious conservatism, Yazd is far more tolerant and open-minded than cities more accustomed to tourists such as Isfahan and Shiraz. This may be because Yazd is also the birthplace of the Zoroastrian religion. Very little is known about Zoroastrianism in the West but its influence is far reaching.
Without Fear of Contradiction - - -
Suppose I tell you that the government will design a product and make you buy it. If you say no thanks, that's too bad. The government will decide what you need and what you will buy. If you say you can't afford it, we'll send in government investigators to check, and if they conclude indeed you can't afford it, we'll tax your neighbors and make them subsidize you so you can pay for it. We'll set up a government bureaucracy to monitor and make sure you're cooperating. If they discover you haven't made the purchase, they'll go to your employer and have your wages garnisheed. Let's assume further that total spending for this government-designed and -mandated product accounts for about a fifth of the nation's total economy. The former Soviet Union? Communist China? No, this is the new Hillarycare.
2007 Mitsubishi Outlander LS 4WD Review
Does Mitsubishi have an identity crisis? When its name is mentioned, some people think of SUVs, like the Montero, while others think of the Lancer Evolution high-performance rally replica. If so, the company is working hard to blend the best of both sides of its reputation. With its second-generation 2007 Outlander, Mitsubishi has merged an SUV with a rally car. A wild claim? You'd be forgiven for thinking so, as performance and handling are not usually associated with a crossover SUV. But the new Outlander, which shares little besides the name with the original, previews the chassis platform that will underly the next-generation Lancer Evo, and its four-wheel drive system is meant more for traction and cornering on pavement than traditional four-wheeling. In the crowded and competitive mid-size, middle-class crossover field, the 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander stands out by virtue of its sporty abilities.
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